Archive for
May 26th, 2012

When it came to an opponent for their Eastern Conference finals series that opens Monday at AmericanAirlines Arena, the Miami Heat knew a definitive answer would be forthcoming in Saturday night’s Boston Celtics-Philadelphia 76ers Game 7.

When it comes to the status of Chris Bosh, nothing is a given, with the All-Star power forward still listed as being out indefinitely with the lower-abdominal strain sustained in the first half of Game 1 of the Heat’s Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Indiana Pacers.

Many daily newspapers have been moving away from paper for years, emphasizing digital news. Lately, some print dailies have been moving away from publishing daily, too.

To try to combat the industry’s decline — in readership, advertising and profits — a handful of newspapers are now cutting back their publishing schedules from seven days a week in print to just three.

The latest to go to three days a week: The storied New Orleans Times-Picayune, one of America’s oldest papers, which announced Thursday that it plans to limit its print schedule — beginning this fall — to Wednesday, Friday and Sunday editions. It will maintain 24/7 online reporting via its site, Nola.com.

This is a tactical trend for New York-based Advance Publications, which owns the Times-Picayune, as it pushes toward a limited print-digital model. Advance said Thursday that in addition to the Times-Picayune, it will also cut back the print frequency of its three papers in Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville, Ala., to three days.

Green, 24, admits to pinching himself every now and again, and for different reasons. Sometimes he does it because he’s playing for Gregg Popovich and with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. (When he was growing up, Green said, he had a Duncan jersey.) Other times, it’s because his road here left Green thinking the NBA wasn’t in his future.

The Cavaliers drafted Green in the second round in 2009 and cut him before the start of the 2010-11 season. The Spurs picked him up and waived him two weeks later. He played for three D-League teams, and for Union Olimpija in Slovenia during the 2011 lockout.

“When I got cut from Cleveland, they weren’t one of the best teams in the NBA at the time, so I had some doubts,” Green said. “I didn’t think I was going to get back into the league. I wasn’t sure it was going to happen for me. When I was let go from here the first time, teams weren’t calling. I didn’t think it was going to ever happen then. I was home for two months and I didn’t know what was going on.”

Green might be the perfect embodiment of the Spurs. They’re a team that gets little publicity, is overlooked or underappreciated, and thrives through hard work, dedication and following the game plan.

Bucks guard Brandon Jennings is eligible for a contract extension this summer, as he enters the fourth and final year of his rookie-scale contract.

But the team’s leading scorer reiterated Friday that he’s not worried about his contract situation.

“I will let (agent) Bill Duffy handle that,” Jennings said from Los Angeles on Friday. “That’s what he does. I will leave it up to Bill Duffy and (Bucks general manager) John Hammond. It’s really not my department.”

Jennings recently returned from southern China where he participated in a league-sponsored event in Guangzhou. He and Toronto Raptors forward DeMar DeRozan served as coaches for celebrity teams and appeared along with former NBA stars Horace Grant and Gary Payton.

“They just go all out for the game of basketball,” Jennings said of the fans in China.

Barely three weeks after surgery to repair a sports hernia and torn abductor muscles, Rockets guard Kyle Lowry returned to the Toyota Center weight rooms and went through shooting drills on the practice court.

But as he leaves town Saturday, he does not know if he’ll return to those familiar facilities or if he wants to be back.

Lowry does not believe he and Goran Dragic, his successor as the starting point guard this season, will both return to the roster next season. Lowry was even less confident he and Rockets coach Kevin McHale can successfully coexist.

“I don’t think so,” Lowry, 26, said. “I honestly think it would be tough. Things have to be addressed. The situation would have to be addressed.

“If things aren’t addressed coaching-wise, I guess I have to be moved.”